01 eLms Activity 1 (Essay)

Direction: Write a short essay on the importance of reading and understanding the
intention served by authors/writers.

Everything has a reason why it was created or made, like how writers or authors
have their intent or purpose as to why they wrote their pieces, which is very important
for the readers to understand. Reading does not stop at just decoding the symbols and
words that are in a certain literary work, it comes with a more complex thing which is to
understand the intention that the author or writer served, why? It is because the intent is
an essential thing that indicates the purpose or reason as to why the work is created
either to inform, entertain, explain, or describe, which helps the readers to gain
comprehension.

When we read a certain book or story, there are times that conflicts regarding the
meaning of a certain piece occur since there are times that language or words used in a
piece are slippery or confusing. A good example is the phrase Shakespeare’s stated in
his piece Othello when he is describing how Desdemona loved to hear the tales of
Othello’s adventure and he says “She wished she had not heard it, yet she wished That
heaven had made her such a man”, this phrase makes the readers confuse as to
whether Desdemona wanted to become a man like Othello, or she wants a man like
Othello, or does Shakespeare made a mistake, however, this phrase of ambiguity is
indeed intentional and not a mistake done by Shakespeare, this phrase only means how
Desdemona admires Othello to the point that she wanted a man like him and become
as brave and admiring as Othello. However, if a certain phrase or story were to be
misunderstood by a reader conflict may arise that might cause the reputation of a
meaningful piece to be tarnished, like in Shakespeare’s work, if ever a certain reader
were to understand the phrase as a negative thing, Shakespeare’s and his novel’s
reputation will be tarnished and even cause arguments and disrupt the real essence of
the novel which is to entertain and inform the readers how woman admires a certain
man.

In conclusion, understanding the intention that the author served is an essential

process that every reader must accomplish. Because by understanding it, readers are
excluding their selves to the possible misinterpretation of the piece. By putting effort into
understanding the intention of the author, we are not only helping ourselves to know the
real essence and meaning of the work but also showing our passion for the work
because we put great effort into discovering its purpose. We should always remember
that literary pieces or written works can have various meanings based on the readers’
understanding which can be very confusing and might cause arguments, but by
knowing the real intention or purpose of the author or writer, these confusions and
misunderstandings can be solved because the intention is fixed and made by only the
authors or writers, who decided what they want their readers to acknowledge, decode,
and gain from their works.

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 References:

https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Literature_and_Literacy/Writing_and_Critical_
Thinking_Through_Literature_(Ringo_and_Kashyap)/01%3A_Introduction/1.04%
3A_Language_Misconceptions_and_Authorial_Intention_in_Literature

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